Nowhere is the human impact on natural systems more apparent than in urban and rural (human-impacted landscapes outside of cities) settings. Students embarking on a career in conservation need to understand how biodiversity is impacted in human-dominated systems, and how various management options can help enhance biodiversity and ecosystem function. Students will use current literature to apply current theories to the ecology of urban and rural ecosystems. The course will introduce to important ecological and conservation issues in human-dominated landscapes. This will be an elective course in the MEnvSc program, and will be especially attractive to those students who wish to pursue careers in urban conservation. This �Topics� course is meant to be a flexible offering that focuses on the processes and management options in urban and rural systems.